~ Day by day with RA …

London – Road Test for New Hip

It’s been a busy couple of months since I posted, but for those of you who have been following my hip surgery progress, I wanted to let you know that I took it out on a super road test to London over the Thanksgiving holiday.

First of all, it was the first time I’d been through airport security since the surgery. I beeped going through DFW but sailed right through Heathrow coming home.

Bottom line, the hip did great. I do a lot of walking when I go to London — probably 3 to 6 miles a day. And it’s not on flat, easy surfaces. You’ve got 20-30 stairs up and down to the underground, crooked sidewalks, cobblestones, weaving in and out of people on the sidewalk. My feet got a lot more tired and sore than my hip did, so I guess everything is doing well on that front.

I go back to see Dr. Tucker on Wednesday, December 9 and hopefully he’ll give me a clean bill of health for the time being on the hip. I’ve been having some problems with the shoulder I had surgery on last year and still have issues with the knee, but I guess we need to solve one thing at a time.

I’ve noticed some other stiffness and I am considering going back to the rheumatologist. I hate being on the medicine, but I don’t want to lose any more joints. However, I’m going to wait until after the New Year so I can at least have a few drinks over the holidays before I go cold turkey again.

I started a new job when I got back from Thanksgiving. Actually, I guess it’s an old job. I went to work for one of my clients and am shutting down my consulting business. The goal is to have the consulting office shut down and moved out by the end of the month. I’m hopeful that a more reasonable schedule will allow me to start working out. There’s a health club close to my new office and they have aqua exercise classes two nights a week, so I’m probably going to give that a shot.